There's something funny and familiar about the last day of school; it's never too unusual, but each one remains unassailably unique in what it represents. At the Daily, the last day of school marks our last issue of the semester, a time for us to stop (finally) and to reflect before we jump into our Commencement issue that hits the Hill the weekend of May 20.
This semester, in many ways like any other, has been notable for its highs and its lows. To paraphrase someone who said it infinitely better: it's been the best of times, and the worst of times.
As we returned from winter break in January, Tufts suffered a number of losses. We mourned Lily Diana Karian, Edilene Evangelista and Kevin Burr. As we leave for the summer, we go in the aftermath of more tragedy. The Virginia Tech shootings, the largest shooting spree in American history, are physically distant from our haven on the Hill, but near to us emotionally; as a student body we mourn, again, for the lives taken only two weeks ago.
In spite of the distressing events that have bookended this semester, Tufts has seen positive change throughout the year. Sophia Gordon, Tufts' first green dorm, opened on schedule, and not too long after, so did the new music building. The Office of Institutional Diversity, with its executive director, Professor Lisa Coleman, has been created to integrate diversity practices across schools. The publication of the Primary Source carol brought students together to discuss issues of diversity and free speech. Generally, many Tufts student groups have made strides towards being better organizations, in terms of programming, purpose and vision, than they were before.
The Daily is no different. As a staff, we have roughly 59 issues to try our best to make the paper a little bit better than we found it. This year, the Daily has written down its policies and best practices, which covers everything from how we interview our sources to how we fact check our articles to how we run our corrections. Available on our Web site, the policy serves as an easy reference for Daily members and Daily readers alike. Through the hard work of our production directors, we have also expanded our masthead and restructured the production department.
As Editor-in-Chief this semester, I've been humbled by the dedication and commitment of my staff and all student journalists at Tufts. Though our separate publications differ in purpose and policy, we do our best to serve Tufts with a variety of views and voices, and I hope we make the Hill a richer place for it.
But all our work here at the Daily would suffer if not for the Tufts community. Thank you, Tufts - for another semester of your readership, your support and your criticism. The Daily is nothing without you.
-Stephanie L. Vallejo, Editor-in-Chief
